All Forum Posts by: Sharon Beatty

@Thomas Burnett. Thomas, glad to see there's some deals to be had in Portland! My husband and I will be looking to purchase next year. We won't be cash buyers but it's good to know that if we work at it we could find something that could cash flow.

@Anthony Golden. Welcome to BP! I'm a newer investor in the Portland area. We're house hacking right now (built an ADU in the basement) and next year we'll be looking to do another house hack for a duplex or triplex in the Portland area. We will not be cash buyers though. In fact will probably use our VA loan again. But you never know you might have a wholesale opportunity next year that could really work for us!

@Mary M.that is actually the law here in Portland. Landlords must accept the first qualified tenant

@Mathew Wray. I will find out from my mortgage broker. Realize there was that distinction in VA loans if I really appreciate the information!

Hi Robbie,

Welcome! I'm in Portland and a newbie too. We'll be looking to buy sometime next year so keep me in mind for wholesale deals ;-)

@Elise Marquette,

Yes, We've talked about doing that but it cost a lot in fees to refi the VA loan so I'm wondering if I should hang on to it. Sounds like refi-ing to a conventional and using the VA loan again is still the way to go. Thanks!

Hi, we just refinanced our VA loan, our house appraised for $200k over the original purchase price in 2018. We took out $100k to pay off credit card debt we used to create a 2bd/2bath ADU in the basement. We'd like to purchase another property next year. We will have saved $20k by then. It was expensive to re-fi the VA loan so I'm hesitant to incur more closing costs on a new loan. You need to continue to live in the property as long as you have that loan. Would it make sense to re-fi next year (February is the earliest we can do that)? That way we can purchase a small multi-family and live in it, with a small down-payment in an FHA loan. Or is it better to just look around for a good deal and get creative in another way to finance it?

I live in Portland, OR which is tenant friendly, not landlord friendly, FYI. 

Appreciate the advice!

thanks. I'll reach out tomorrow

@Mike Meerschaert,

I understand that it just got passed today! I'll have to check on when it goes into effect. 

@Bruce Bingham,

Do you know when the infill project will be voted on? The last I checked on it, it was supposed to be last fall, which obviously hasn't happened. Technically, our 2 bd/2bth is a one bedroom with the 2nd being an "uninhabitable storage space" for the renters. They were willing to do this because it was expected the infill project would be approved shortly and it allows for basement apartments to use the entire footprint even if that's over 800 sq ft, as long as the building is more than 5 years old.